Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition

Track Listings

1. Shift

2. Vertigo

3. Rapid Eye Movement

4. Transistor

5. Helix

6. Ontario

7. Tester

8. Tiefenscharfe

9. Nord

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Radian is at the center of a very fertile and exciting musical scene in Vienna. Critics are citing it as one of the most adventurous and important movements taking place, much like the free jazz movement in 70's Chicago, the no-wave movement in 80's NYC, and the garage/jungle movement in 90's London. On "Juxtaposition", the band recorded instruments (drums, bass, guitar, vibraphone, and marimbaphone) in unusual ways, like microrecording through synthesizer patches. The sounds were further manipulated and recorded along with live instrumentation. The result lacks a simple melodic line, but the record is surprisingly accessible. Its well-crafted tunes offer infinite depth and flow.

Tracks:

Shift
Vertigo
Rapid Eye Movement
Transistor
Helix
Ontario
Tester
Tiefenscharfe
Nord

Album Description

Radian is at the center of a very fertile and exciting musical scene in Vienna. Critics are citing it as one of the most adventurous and important movements taking place, much like the free jazz movement in 70's Chicago, the no-wave movement in 80's NYC, and the garage/jungle movement in 90's London. On "Juxtaposition", the band recorded instruments (drums, bass, guitar, vibraphone, and marimbaphone) in unusual ways, like microrecording through synthesizer patches. The sounds were further manipulated and recorded along with live instrumentation. The result lacks a simple melodic line, but the record is surprisingly accessible. Its well-crafted tunes offer infinite depth and flow.

Customer Reviews:

Michael Bolton was never this BAD.......2005-12-28

Surely, if you like Michael Bolton you have no business listening to Radian. You probably would need a lot of work on the MUSICAL TASTE department to keep you busy for a lifetime, if you could ever get out of it. On the other hand, if you dig adventures in music, this may do it for ya.

This is an excellent CD, however compromised the "pure glitch" ideals they may be.
It is accessible because it blends rock and glitch and so most people can at least initially grab on to something. However, after a few listening sessions, one may discover that some of the best tracks are not the "rocking" ones, but other, less beat driven tunes.

The music could be Tortoise influenced, but that would be saying that U2's Joshua Tree, say, sound like your average Daniel Lanois album. Definetely NOT a connection musically, besides this record being produced by Tortoise's John McEntire. Radian pretty much sound like themselves. Period. The only Tortoise tune that sound anything like this and, very remotely, is "Eros" off Standards. 'Nuff said.

The trend to make glitch more accesible is not necessarily good or bad, but these guys do it with such aplomb that the results are worth lisening to. The drummer is excellent, and his beats give this album a definite "mechanic-yet-human" sound that could have never been achieved with a computer. The bass is hyper-minimal, yet it holds the tunes down as it should. The samples and re-samples are good and not very generic, yet sometimes shrill and thin, very "digital noise" sounding

Overall, this is a great album for those of us hoping the Michael Boltons of the world would just simply dissappear into thin air. Definitely no adult contemporary, bland, sappy junk here.

Juxtaposition.......2005-01-26

If one were to group Adam Pierce (of Mice Parade), Scott Herren, and Tortoise all together, throw them into a small dark room and order them to make music, the result would probably sound a lot like Juxtaposition, Radian's second album for Thrill Jockey Records. In keeping with the label's goal of satisfying indie rocksters fed up with the straitjacketed limitations of conventional songwriting, Radian dish out academic, often appealing, occasionally boring, intelligent electronic-based rock. Though it pulls from Tortoise's first two records a bit more than one might care for (sanding away some originality), it's mostly a fine record that plays as a logical extension of such bands that combine rock elements with electronics, and as such, it will appeal mostly to current fans the genre who want to hear more.

Radian play on the outer fringes of the already left-of-center post-rock heading. While atypical song structure finds a comfortable home and singing is verboten, Radian have scrapped the lo-fi aesthetic and re-written the rulebook in reverse: grimy instrumentation filtered through squeaky clean production. That, and the continual domination of electronics over acoustic instruments, actually brings them closer in spirit to Aphex Twin than Ativin. The playing is precise, the sounds slightly warped, the moods dark and ominous. Electronic granules congeal--hiding or changing the nature of the organic instrumentation that (seldom) appears--funneled through crisp production, evoking images of well-oiled war-era machinery or the dentist's office from your worst nightmare. In fact, Radian pull off the not-insignificant feat of incorporating some shade and shadow into the clinical chill surrounding every inch of the world they painstakingly sculpt over the course of the album.

That doesn't mean that the whole album is particularly distinctive or even accomplished, because it's not. It does, however, ride on the success of its three most distinctive tracks. "Rapid Eye Movement" is a menacing take on dub, moving a crunching baritone siren into the spotlight in the first few seconds and then returning after a considerable amount of suspense has been built up. "Ontario" is a tightly-wound collage of seemingly random noise--melodic rumbles and wheezes maintaining startling harmony and recalling labelmate Oval's later body of cacaphonic work. "Nord," Juxtaposition's lengthy swan song, is perhaps the album's only moment of conventional beauty, with little more than vibraphones, a few electronic zings, and a desolate repeated figure that moves closer and closer to us before fading into static. It's an appropriate close for an album that keeps its distance as much as it does, with no light and little musical gesture.

That Juxtaposition doesn't immediately engage bogs down lesser songs like Transistor and Tiefenscharfe; the former's rote go-nowhereness and the latter's random electronic warblings and puzzling ambience stick to the post-rock textbook so closely that they only rehash the ideas of their betters and serve to solidify the genre's potential for pointlessness. "Academic" music almost always suffers from being too academic, too self-conscious and unwilling to let loose, and even as Radian choose the medium of a recent (early 90's) development of experimental music, the idea has been played so many times that any approach failing to change or add to its foundations is likely to fall short.

Radian's purpose, however, doesn't seem to be to engage, but rather to stand on its own as a viable world of color-drained electronics, to paint a satisfying portrait, and to provoke thought upon the listener. They've done just that, and 75% of the time it works. Juxtaposition is a dark, almost cinematic experience of epic but strangely understated proportions, representative of a world we can see in front of us but can never be fully inside. That's either a triumph or a fault, depending on what the listener wants out of music of this kind, but certainly Radian knows that post-rock has almost limitless possibilities, and inasmuch as the genre can still sound relatively fresh and accommodate for new approaches (no matter how slight the curve), Radian adequately hold up their end even this late in the post-rock game. Just don't expect a revolution.

autechre has some competition........2005-01-25

this is a decent cd. if you like michael bolton's 1988 hit song "time love and tenderness" then you will love this album.
(un)highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

mesmorizing
Lovely songwriting and fabulous arrangements.

Firefly
Rachel Loshak
Manufacturer: Apple Blossom Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

Alternative Pop | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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Mint
Here I Am
Martha Wainwright
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ASIN: B00005KJDD
Release Date: 2001-05-16

Tracks:

Rita
China Doll
Everythings Heavenly
Something Inside
Fire
O.K.
Don't Wait
Won't You Love Me
Muddy Road
Still Want You
Beautiful Night.

Album Description

Rachel's second album is a wonderful collection of original and moving material. It is a testament to her live performances with crystaline vocals and soothing bass. It also features the eloquent guitarist, Jason Crigler, capturing the musical rapport that they create on stage.

Customer Reviews:

mesmorizing.......2002-11-06

I saw Rachel in concert and was mesemorized. The combination of her lyrics, vocals and the hypnotic guitar work of Jason Crigler were astounding. This is a fairy treasure!

Lovely songwriting and fabulous arrangements........2002-03-25

Rachel Loshak shows that if your songwriting is up to par, you don't need oodles of weird effects to grab the listener. Firefly has all the wide-eyed wonder of fireflies in your tent on a spring night, or a slowly floating carousel ride, all naive beauty and understated optimism.

Loshak's voice is a seductive one, soft and winning but never too sugary, her terrific sense of melody ensures you're never bored, and her song structures are fluid and engaging. She never stays on a verse for too long (such a common sin among songwriters these days). "China Doll"'s lovely melodies, ethereal harmonies and brooding mood combine to make a classic pop song; "Don't Wait" is a rich country-ish ballad; "Something Inside" is a dancing, spritely tw-minute gem with a childlike vocal, a bouncy bassline and surprising instrumental flourishes; "Fire" is an achingly romantic song, Loshak's breathy high-register voice slowly tugging at the heartstring while her rumbling bass provides an earthy contrast; "Won't You Love Me"'s fleet-footed melodies latch right onto your ears; and "Beautiful Night"'s Eastern-sounding bassline (doubled on guitar) and haunting keyboards evoke the midnight heebie-jeebies uncannily.

Only one small problem for me. This is a very bass-heavy album. A mite too much bottom end, perhaps -- which actually works well with the dreamy, bright-eyed moods Loshak aims to create. However, use it as background music and you might be charmed into blissful bubble-bath slumber (especially if you go as far as the mischievous hidden 12th track). And my home stereo couldn't handle the rumbling low end and buzzed like flights of angry flies. But with the quality of the songwriting and that beautiful voice, I'd dust off my CD walkman anytime.

Rapture
Average customer rating:
Rapture

Manufacturer: Black Walnut Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Folk | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000CAFWQU
Release Date: 2003-09-02

Tracks:

Rapture
On the Way Up
Question Mark
Smell the Future
The Voice
So Much More
If Love Is Not Enough
The Whole of the Moon
Half the Time
Black Rabbit
Black Snow
Dog Talk
The Dreams
The Whole of the Moon (live)

Average customer rating:

That Might Be You But This Is Me
Auditory Sculpture
Manufacturer: Auditory Sculpture
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00005QKCD
Release Date: 2001-10-16

Tracks:

What Did I Do
An Uncomfortable Dream
He's Coming Up The Stairs With A Knife
Telling Stories
Daybreak
Innocent
There's Something In The Attik
Wipe You Right Out
Wiring Under The Floorboard
Hiding From You
Winter In July
Variations On A Theme

Average customer rating:

Juxtaposition
Hedon
Manufacturer: Hapi Skratch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00006JYBD
Release Date: 2002-09-17

Tracks:

Stay
Alone
All My Fault
Forcefield of Fear
What Makes Me Smile
Cut Profile
Beat Up Emotionally
Sticks, Stones, And Broken Bones
Random Virga
For All Time

Average customer rating:

Juxtaposition

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000BP8GSW

Product Description

Song list: Eternal Ring, It's Not Too Big, Rest, Me & Thomas, Juxtaposition, Timeless Treasure, Beyond My Grasp, Lifetime Love, Where I'm Going, Land of Dreams

Average customer rating:

A little tentative, but well done nonetheless.
Lovely voice; heartfelt lyrics.

Here I Am
Rachel Loshak
Manufacturer: Apple Blossom Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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Firefly
Mint

ASIN: B00003CWW2
Release Date: 1999-11-04

Tracks:

Around The Bend
From Another World
Here I Am
Watching Your Eyes
Not Now
Comfort Is Cold
Trying Not To Be Still

Album Description

Debut album, featuring original songs by Rachel Loshak. Showing her voice to be clear and entrancing, and her bass parts to be melodic and mesmerizing. Combined with guitars and drums that enhance the atmosphere already created.

Customer Reviews:

A little tentative, but well done nonetheless........2002-04-05

Here I Am, Rachel Loshak's EP-length first release, isn't quite as confident as her superb album Firefly, but it already manifests touches of that gorgeous sound that would make Firefly the most played album on my list in the past six months.

Loshak's voice and songwriting are a little shy on this EP, the singing less clearly enunciated, and the rhythms a little less eccentric. It's still a beautiful sound, just not as rich. But there's still plenty of good pop songs here, lead track "Around the Bend" and the title track being my favourites among the bunch. I can't wait for her next album.

Lovely voice; heartfelt lyrics........1999-11-17

Wow! I was surprised to see that Rachel Loshak's CD was available on Amazon. I bought it from her at one of her gigs because I was so taken with her beautiful voice accompanied only by the bass she played. On the CD, Ms. Loshak is backed up by a full band, but her lovely voice and heartfelt lyrics still shine.

Average customer rating:

Why Is Anything Forbidden?
Various Artist
Manufacturer: Deathbomb Arc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Southern Rap | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000CA9TY6
Release Date: 2002-09-25

Average customer rating:

Juxtaposition
Atreyu's Quest
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000RI0VJA

Product Description

1 Romancer 2 Solo Volvere 3 Human Nature 4 Orgo (Organic Chemistry) 5 Juxtaposition 6 Anna's Eyes 7 Magnetic Love 8 Ms. Greenfield 9 Primer Amor 10 NYC Blues 11 Song for Billie 12 Tucked In My Pocket

Average customer rating:

I Used to be Nice
Rachel Bissex
Manufacturer: One Take Productions
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00005Y1RJ
Release Date: 1998-11-25

Tracks:

In the Middle
For Florence
In the Magazines
Royal Blues
Passion
What's Right
December Moon
Angel
Witness
The Ballad of Eunice & Pearl
There's a River
Cold November Wood

Album Description

As the title suggests, the cuts on this album aren't all sweet and folksy. From strippers to farmers to songs about teen image and the moon, it's a bold and bumpy, but satisfying ride.

Music Review:

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